It’s a classic saying: One bad apple spoils the entire barrel, and a few syringe-poked packages of breakfast sausage causes Walmart to toss out the entire section of the meat department.Early Saturday morning, an employee at the Walmart in Poulsbo, WA, noticed a hypodermic syringe sticking out of a Jimmy Dean sausage. An inspection of nearby packages revealed that they too had been poked.

“Somebody had pushed a syringe into the tube at an angle, and it poked out the other side,”a Poulsbo police officer tells KOMO News. “The actual metal needle tip was not attached to the syringe though.”

The Marine Corps is not changing male dress uniforms. It says the president in no way, shape or form directed the Marine Corps to change its uniform cover. The service is looking for a new uniform for female Marines because the old manufacturer went out of business. The Corps released a statement after photos of male Marines in what some consider a more feminine white cap made the rounds on the Internet. The Corps says that photo came from a survey. The cap in question is called a "Dan Daly."

The Navy says it is releasing weekly snapshots of sexual assault reports. Rear Adm. John Kirby, the chief of information, says it will deter future assaults, encourage victims to come forward and help the Navy serve them, and foster a command climate that holds offenders accountable. In the first snapshot, the week of Oct.13, the Navy received 21 complaints. It says the vast majority of alleged victims say they knew the offender. In 11 of the 21, both the victim and assailant were allegedly service members.

During the recent royal wedding, the millions around the world saw that Prince William chose to wear a uniform that included the famous British "red coat."

Many people have asked, "Why did the British wear red coats in battle?"

A long time ago, Britain and France were at war.During one battle, the French captured a British colonel.They took him to their headquarters and the French general began to question him.

Finally, as an afterthought, the French general asked,"Why do you British officers all wear red coats?Don't you know the red material makes you easier targets for us to shoot at?"

In his casual, matter-of-fact way, the officer informed the general that the reason British officers wear red coats is so that if they are wounded, the blood won't show, …and the men they are leading won't panic.

And that’s why, from that day forward, all French Army officers wear brown trousers….

If you were in the market for a watch in 1880, would you know where to get one? You would go to a store, right? Well, of course you could do that, but if you wanted one that was cheaper and a bit better than most of the store watches, you went to the train station! Sound a bit funny? Well, for about 500 towns across the northern United States, that's where the best watches were found.

Why were the best watches found at the train station? The railroad company wasn't selling the watches, not at all. The telegraph operator was. Most of the time the telegraph operator was located in the railroad station because the telegraph lines followed the railroad tracks from town to town. It was usually the shortest distance and the right-of-ways had already been secured for the rail line.

Most of the station agents were also skilled telegraph operators and that was the primary way that they communicated with the railroad. They would know when trains left the previous station and when they were due at their next station. And it was the telegraph operator who had the watches. As a matter of fact they sold more of them than almost all the stores combined for a period of about 9 years.

This was all arranged by "Richard", who was a telegraph operator himself. He was on duty in the North Redwood, Minnesota train station one day when a load of watches arrived from the East. It was a huge crate of pocket watches. No one ever came to claim them.

So Richard sent a telegram to the manufacturer and asked them what they wanted to do with the watches. The manufacturer didn't want to pay the freight back, so they wired Richard to see if he could sell them. So Richard did.

He sent a wire to every agent in the system asking them if they wanted a cheap, but good, pocket watch. He sold the entire case in less than two days and at a handsome profit. That started it all. He ordered more watches from the watch company and encouraged the telegraph operators to set up a display case in the station offering high quality watches for a cheap price to all the travelers. It worked! It didn't take long for the word to spread and, before long, people other than travelers came to the train station to buy watches. Richard became so busy that he had to hire a professional watch maker to help him with the orders. That was Alvah.

And the rest is history as they say.

The business took off and soon expanded to many other lines of dry goods.

Richard and Alvah left the train station and moved their company to Chicago -- and it's still there.

YES, IT'S A LITTLE KNOWN FACT that for a while in the 1880's, the biggest watch retailer in the country was at the train station. It all started with a telegraph operator: Richard Sears and his partner Alvah Roebuck!

Doing more of what failed spectacularly will not save the day a second time, as the scale required to create yet more phantom collateral and more asset bubbles will collapse the system.

The financial storm clouds are gathering, ominously darkening the horizon. Though the financial media and the organs of state propaganda continue forecasting blue skies of recovery and rising corporate profits, the factual evidence belies this rosy forecast: internal measures of financial and economic activity are weakening across the globe as the state-central bank solutions to all ills--massive increases in credit creation, leverage and deficit spending--have failed to address any of the structural causes of the 2008 Global Financial Meltdown.

This failure to address the causes of 2008 Global Financial Meltdown is disastrous in and of itself--but the status quo has magnified the coming disaster by scaling up the very causes of the 2008 Global Financial Meltdown: excessive credit expansion, misallocation of capital on a grand scale, an opaque shadow banking system constructed of excessive leverage and a dependence on phantom collateral, i.e. risks and assets that are systemically mispriced to skim stupendous profits for financiers, bankers and their political enablers.

This is what I have called doing more of what has failed spectacularly.

BRICS countries are close to completing a brand new Internet backbone that would bypass the United States entirely and thereby protect both governments and citizens from NSA spying.

In light of revelations that the National Security Agency hacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone, in addition to recording information about 124 billion phone calls during a 30-day period earlier this year, the fallout against the NSA has accelerated.

Brazil is set to finalize a 34,000-kilometre undersea fiber-optic cable by 2015 that will run from Vladivostok, Russia to Fortaleza, Brazil, via Shantou, China, Chennai, India and Cape Town, South Africa.

Officials and media aren’t being honest about the violence. By Thomas SowellOne of the reasons for being glad to be as old as I am is that I may be spared living to see a race war in America. Race wars are often wars in which nobody wins and everybody ends up much worse off than they were before.

Initial skirmishes in that race war have already begun, and have in fact been going on for some years. But public officials pretend that it is not happening, and the mainstream media seldom publish it at all, except in ways that conceal what is really taking place.

For American society, a dangerous polarization has set in. Signs of this polarization over the years include opposite reactions between blacks and whites to the verdict in the O. J. Simpson murder case, the “rape” charges against Duke University students, and the trials resulting from the beating of Rodney King and the death of Trayvon Martin.More dangerous than these highly publicized episodes over the years are innumerable organized and unprovoked physical attacks on whites by young black gangs in shopping malls, on beaches, and in other public places all across the country today.

I hold Thomas Sowell in very high esteem because he’s willing to focus on issues which the mainstream media does not and will not report on. In this most recent case, it’s black mob violence against whites.

In fact, Sowell fears we are on the verge of a race war:Initial skirmishes in that race war have already begun and have in fact been going on for some years. But public officials pretend that it is not happening, and the mainstream media seldom publish it at all, except in ways that conceal what is really taking place.

For American society, a dangerous polarization has set in. Signs of this polarization over the years include opposite reactions between blacks and whites to verdicts in the O.J. Simpson murder case, the “rape” charges against Duke University students, and trials resulting from the beating of Rodney King and the death of Trayvon Martin.

More dangerous than these highly publicized episodes over the years are innumerable organized and unprovoked physical attacks on whites by young black gangs in shopping malls, on beaches and in other public places all across the country today.

Most episodes of black mob violence are not this convenient: Unwitting predators hurling racial expletives. In front of witnesses. In broad daylight. On a busy street corner.

But that is what happened in Brooklyn earlier this month when a black mob assaulted a young white couple. Some cases of racial violence are so blatant and horrific even the most determined editor cannot ignore them.

But other than that, most editors say they do not report black mob violence because they have no evidence of “racial motivation.”

That is what the editor of the Virginian-Pilot said after a mob of 50 black people beat two of his reporters — and he did not even run a news story on it.

The pieces of the puzzle on Obamacare are finally coming together. Yesterday it was revealed during congressional testimony that the Healthcare.gov website contains a hidden disclaimer which reads, “You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transmitting or stored on this information system.”

This is an open admission that the site intends to share your data with other government entities. It also means the entire website violates federal law because it does not comply with HIPAA regulations for medical privacy. Click here to watch the astonishing video testimony.

“Maryland is one of the nation’s most vulnerable states to sea level rise. As such, working with our citizens, local governments and federal partners to protect our communities from the impacts of climate-related events is urgently important. The resources from the Department of Interior will make important progress to restore critical natural areas and help protect our coastal areas from future storms and related surges.

“At Martin National Wildlife Refuge, immediately adjacent to Smith Island in Somerset County, the rapidly eroding western shore will be stabilized, helping to preserve the heritage of one of Maryland’s most culturally significant communities. At Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Kent County, the shoreline along the Chester River will be protected. Together these efforts – along with funding for enhanced coastal mapping and flood reduction projects in Centreville and Catonsville – will help us protect thousands of acres of wetlands and underwater grasses that provide habitat for fish and waterfowl, and improve water quality.

“We are grateful to President Obama and the members of our Congressional delegation for supporting our commitment to help Marylanders recover from last year’s storm and build our resilience in anticipation of future severe weather events.”

Mendacity should never be associated with the U.S. Department of Justice, but Attorney General Eric Holder's minions are giving the nation a textbook example of that characteristic.

In a motion filed earlier this year in federal court, Justice Department lawyers asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana to enjoin state officials from "awarding any school vouchers to students attending school in schools operating under federal desegregation orders."

Why? Because enabling such students to flee their typically failing institutions to other schools allegedly "impedes desegregation."

If your neighborhood is not as safe as it used to be, then you have something in common with the rest of the country. All over America, crime is on the rise. According to a government survey that was just released, violent crime in the United States increased by 15 percent last year, and property crime was up by 12 percent. If violent crime keeps increasing at this rate, it will approximately double in just six years. But as I wrote about the other day, when the next major economic downturn strikes it will probably greatly accelerate the growth of the crime rate in this country. Desperate people do desperate things, and as you will read about below, there are people out there that are already stealing entire truckloads of food. In the future, when people are extremely hungry or crazy for their next drug hit, they won’t think twice about invading your home or pulling you out of your vehicle. The rise in crime that we are witnessing right now is just the beginning. It is going to get a lot worse than this.

Whenever I do this type of an article, inevitably someone leaves a comment insisting that I am lying because crime rates are going down.

Dr. Michael Minor, pastor of Oak Hill Missionary Baptist Church became an Obamacare navigator this year, attempting to get people to enroll in the Obama health insurance exchanges. But long before that, he was fighting obesity in his community bybanning fried chicken. “You can see the difference,” he told Reuters. “People are much better sized, way better. And once they get it off, they want to keep it off.”

On Saturday, the Washington Post revealed further details on a scheme investing in the pending deaths of terminally ill patients which attracted the capital of Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe.

Earlier this month, Breitbart News reported that McAuliffe admitted he was a "passive investor" in an investment fund organized by his friend and donor, Joseph Caramadre, that preyed on terminally ill patients. Caramadre's fund would pay terminally ill patients a small amount of cash before their death and, at the same time, would purchase life insurance policies on them. When the patient died, Caramadre and his investors reaped huge profits from the dead patient's death benefits.

Under Obamacare, the Internal Revenue Service will determine who is eligible for health insurance subsidies, and it will deliver those subsidies, in the form of tax credits, to millions of individual Americans. It's a huge job, and a critical one, involving hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. So it should go without saying that the subsidies go only to people who actually qualify for them. But a new scandal within the IRS casts serious doubt on whether that will happen.

The scandal involves a program known as the Earned Income Tax Credit. It is an anti-poverty program in which the government gives low-income workers a tax refund larger than their tax liability. For example, a family with a $1,000 income tax liability might qualify for a credit four times that large, and receive an Earned Income Tax Credit payment of $4,000. Another family with no income tax liability at all might qualify for the same lump-sum payment. Call it a subsidy, a refund, a transfer payment -- in any case, the family receives a check from the feds.

As the status quo crumbles, the state responds in the only way it knows: expand control and become increasingly authoritarian.

The Grand Narrative of the 21st century is the legitimization of the authoritarian state. The authoritarian state comes in many ideological flavors, but retains the commonalities of central control. It may label the system it controls communist, socialist or capitalist, but these distinctions are semantic: the authoritarian state controls the system, by one means or another.

Regardless of which version of the 9/11 story you believe or disbelieve, the reality is the same: the U.S. is engaged in an Orwellian global war without end, a war that doesn't just justify monitoring every communication on the planet but actively requires monitoring every communication on the the planet.

The Federal Reserve has extended its control of the U.S. economy, transforming it into a wealth-skimming machine for the top 1/10th of 1% with access to the Fed's credit creation. The Fed claims independence from the U.S. government, but this is also merely semantics: the Fed and U.S. Treasury are simply two facets of the authoritarian state.

We see the same narrative playing out around the world. In socialist France, the central state is extending its control over what little of the economy is still quasi-private; in nominally communist China, any weakening of the economy that can't be papered over with bogus statistics is soon followed by nationalist propaganda hyping one red-button issue or another (Senkaku Islands, etc.) to distract the populace from the increasingly fragile "recovery" in China's asset-bubble-dependent economy.

European and Latin American music comes to Salisbury University with the Ecuadorian guitar duo Andaluzia 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 29, in the Great Hall of Holloway Hall. Founders Carlos Hernandez and Christian Robinson, of Guayaquil, Ecuador, offer a repertoire of classical, contemporary and jazz stylings. The duo has competed in international classical guitar festivals and was a special guest at the seventh international Guitar Gems Festival in Israel in 2012, just one year after its first concert.

Facing a deadline today on deciding if Senate and House committees staffers will be swept into Obamacare like personal office aides of members, sources tell Secrets that several Democratic staffs will likely be kept out of the troubled health care system.

Such a move to shield thousands of aides would be a blow to efforts to have all of Capitol Hill enrolled into the system the president and congressional Democrats created.

Said a top Senate GOP staffer: “If Obamacare is so awesome, why the hell aren't Democratic committee chairmen giving their staff the gift of losing the insurance they have and be dumped into Obamacare like the rest of us?”

If you leave potatoes sitting in in your cupboard for too long, they might sprout or turn green, but it’s not like eating old vegetables is going to kill you or anything. Wait, it can? It can cause symptoms ranging from a tummyache to hallucinations to death? And that’s happened quite a few times throughout history? Well, crap.After sitting around for a while and perhaps rotting, potatoes contain a potent toxin called solanine. The substance is the plant’s natural defense against threats like illness and blight, but it also wards off creatures that eat potatoes. Like humans.

As the status quo crumbles, the state responds in the only way it knows: expand control and become increasingly authoritarian.

The Grand Narrative of the 21st century is the legitimization of the authoritarian state. The authoritarian state comes in many ideological flavors, but retains the commonalities of central control. It may label the system it controls communist, socialist or capitalist, but these distinctions are semantic: the authoritarian state controls the system, by one means or another.

Regardless of which version of the 9/11 story you believe or disbelieve, the reality is the same: the U.S. is engaged in an Orwellian global war without end, a war that doesn't just justify monitoring every communication on the planet but actively requires monitoring every communication on the the planet.

The Federal Reserve has extended its control of the U.S. economy, transforming it into a wealth-skimming machine for the top 1/10th of 1% with access to the Fed's credit creation. The Fed claims independence from the U.S. government, but this is also merely semantics: the Fed and U.S. Treasury are simply two facets of the authoritarian state.

We see the same narrative playing out around the world. In socialist France, the central state is extending its control over what little of the economy is still quasi-private; in nominally communist China, any weakening of the economy that can't be papered over with bogus statistics is soon followed by nationalist propaganda hyping one red-button issue or another (Senkaku Islands, etc.) to distract the populace from the increasingly fragile "recovery" in China's asset-bubble-dependent economy.

The Delaware State Police would like to remind parents, children, and motorists to remain vigilant and keep safety a top priority during this Halloween Season.

Motorist SafetyMotorists are being asked to not only drive with extreme caution, but also to drive extra slow in neighborhoods and residential areas.Children will be walking house to house and depending on the availability of sidewalks, may be near or actually on the roadwayWith all the trick or treating excitement, children may inadvertently dart across the street into the path of moving vehicles

Trick or Treating SafetyChildren should never go trick or treating alone, they should always have a parent or a group of friends with them at all times.Stay off the main roadways.Costumes should always fit properly.Consider face paint instead of masks as they can obstruct a child’s vision.Trick or Treaters should always carry a flashlight.For added visibility consider using “glow sticks” and/or reflective tape attached to the costumes or bags.Before crossing the street, always look in both directions twice to make sure there is no vehicular traffic.

Parents encouraged to review the Delaware Sex Offender Registry

Parents can find accurate information regarding the presence of sex offenders in their neighborhoods by visiting the Delaware Sex Offender Registry online at:

Parents are encouraged to review the list of registered sex offenders living near their neighborhood. The Neighborhood Search and Mapping feature found on the website pinpoints exactly where an offender lives, therefore, educating the public on which house to avoid while trick-or-treating.

The Delaware State Police Sex Offender Apprehension and Registration (SOAR) Unit will be working in conjunction with Probation and Parole ensuring that registered sex offenders are not participating in the Halloween activities and are in compliance with requirements.

GREELEY, Colo. — Colorado has been described as a classic purple state, but in many ways it’s more like two states, one red and one blue, fighting to occupy — and dominate — the same territory.

That is where the 51st state movement comes in. Eleven rural counties, upset over a growing divide with the Democrat-dominated state government on guns, energy and social issues, are asking voters on the Nov. 5 ballot whether their elected officials should pursue the creation of another state carved from northern Colorado.

While no longer actively engaged in politcs, one of Ron Paul's crowning achievements while in Congress, was to bring some much needed sunlight to the balance sheet, the activities, and secret bailouts of the Fed, and according to some, was being responsible for the "transaprency, openness, and forward guidance" approach to monetary policy. The paradox here, as the whole Taper - Non Taper shocking episode provied, is that the Fed itself is now caught in a reflexive Catch 22, and no longer can "renormalize" and extricate itself from its policy through "guidance" without in the process destroying everything it has achieved during the prior period of central planniing.

Still, despite Ron Paul's unsung accomplishments there is much more to be done to expose just how actively the NY Fed's trading desk participates in the fixing of the S&P500's closing price day after day. For that, he will need the help of his son, Rand. Which is why as the Sunshine State News reports, "Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is ramping up his opposition to President Barack Obama’s nomination of Janet Yellen to chair the Federal Reserve. Paul is teaming up with the Campaign for Liberty, chaired by his father former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, to stand in opposition to Yellen and push legislation taking aim at the Fed."

Following record UMich misses, Gallup's economic confidence collapse, the slump in the conference board's measure of confidence, and Bloomberg's index of consumer comfort signaling major concerns among rich and poor in this country (in spite of record highs in stocks), today's Consumer Confidence data from UMich continues to confirm a problem for all those 'hoping' for moar multiple expansion. Falling for the 3rd month in a row, and missing expectations for the 2nd month in a row, this is the lowest confidence print in 2013. Perhaps even more worrisome for the 'hope and change' crowd is that the 12-month economic outlook has collapsed to its lowest since Nov 2011. It would seem that all that free money flooding our 'markets' has reached peak efficacy in terms of confidence inspiration, and as Citi notes, when this cycle has played out in the past, equity market corrections are often quick to follow...

But gun owners should be especially concerned about this “Obamanation,” because it will allow the federal government to use our medical information to keep us from buying guns.

Just ask yourself:

* Was there a death in your family recently causing you to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

* Do you take anxiety medications?

* Did you ever say: I had thoughts of suicide when I was dealing with stress at home or work or after my recent breakup?

* Have you voluntarily checked yourself into an institution to get counseling?

If you answered YES to any of those questions, and there is any federal nexus, then you might find yourself disarmed in the near future.

The reason is that, since 2009, the federal health database – created by section 13001 of the stimulus bill and put in place by Obamacare – will allow the federal government to troll private health records for the purpose of stripping gun rights from persons with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), PTSD, and similar maladies.

Already, more than 150,000 military veterans – perhaps as many as 165,000 – have lost their gun rights because of the “see a Veteran Administration shrink, lose your gun rights” precedent from the Clinton-Bush era.

You may remember last week’s story of the Walmart employee in Michigan who was fired after he intervened to stop an assault against a customer in the parking lot. The retailer subsequently decided to offer him the chance to return to work, but he’s not biting.“The entire situation has left me with incredible anxiety,” the former Walmart worker, who lost his $8.70/hour job on Oct. 15, tells USA Today. “Walmart feels it’s absolutely not their responsibility to help an associate harmed while on the clock. I have refused their offer to take my job back for fear of retaliation.”

The 30-year-old explains that he wants a formal apology from Walmart, and for the company to remove the fact that he was fired for violating store policy from his employee record.

“They could not guarantee that nothing would happen from management if I did take my job,” he says. “It’s a day-to-day struggle. I feel like if I say the wrong thing, I’m going to have a company coming after me.”

WASHINGTON — The congressman from Texas has just the analogy for the GOP’s failed attempt to shutdown the government.

The Alamo.

“In every loss, there can be a victory,” Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, told WND.

The congressman explained, just as the loss at the Alamo led to the creation of Texas, the losing battle to stop Obamacare has become a victory, because now the Democrats have to explain why their health care law has become such a disaster.

Stockman saw an irony, noting, “We wanted to delay, for one year, the individual mandate. And he (President Obama) shut the whole government down. He said, ‘I will not negotiate.’ Now, the Democrats are coming back and asking for the very thing that they refused to do when the Republicans were asking.”

In 2012, 73% of graduating high school seniors nationwide had driver’s licenses according to the Centers for Disease Control. That’s down from 86% in 1996. What’s the reason for the drop? Better public transportation? Helicopter parenting? Stricter testing requirements? No, not that. A new study from the insurance industry-funded Highway Loss Data Institute indicates that it’s because teens don’t have jobs.Researchers came up with these numbers by comparing teens’ unemployment and driving stats to those of middle-aged adults. Fewer teens who want to work have jobs, and fewer teens have driver’s licenses. Why bother going through the process if you can’t afford to drive and have no job to drive to anyway?

It makes sense: even people whose parents are wonderful enough to buy cars for them need some source of income to put gas in that car. Teen unemployment up by 11 percentage points during the Great Recession period compared to other recent eras.

Or maybe it’s even less complicated than that. The drop in teen drivers also correlates with more widespread Internet usage and mobile phone ownership. Maybe teens who can Facebook with their friends from home have less interest in having aimless face time with them at the mall.

Great news for animals who like non-poisonous food! Fresh on the heels of the Food and Drug Administration’s plea for help in solving the mystery of why pet treats imported from China have allegedly killed more than 600 dogs and a few cats, today the agency proposed new rules to protect animal food from contamination from microbes, toxic chemicals, and other scary contaminants.

Protecting animal food isn’t just to prevent the heartbreak that happens when your pet drops dead of treat poisoning. When pet food has some kind of nasty food-borne illness, cross-contamination can make the humans in your household sick as well. The proposed rules would cover the food given to livestock, too: that is, the animals that we eat. Toxic substances in cattle feed could end up in your steak.

Less than two-hours ago, I submitted a revised W-4 form to our payroll department. My goal is to avoid being in a position where at the end of next year I am owed a refund from the federal government. As an act of civil disobedience, I am refusing to purchase health insurance. This means that I am subject to a tax/fine of 1% of my income (2% the following year, 2.5% thereafter). But the beautiful thing is that unless I am owed a tax refund, the government will never get any of that money.

My decision to not purchase health insurance is a decision a lot of people -- possibly millions -- are going to make, either out of protest, or once the ObamaCare site is up and running and they finally get a look at the increased cost of their monthly premiums under the Orwellian-named Affordable Care Act. Purely by coincidence, during his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh went into great detail about all of this:

Anyway, [my accountant] said to me that, according to the law, the only way that the government can collect the fine or penalty for you not buying insurance is if you are owed a tax refund. If you do not owe a tax refund, they cannot go into your bank account or anywhere else and get that money. Now, the sad thing is that most people file their taxes to get a refund 'cause they think they're screwing the government, and they're not. …

Therefore, the only way that they can collect the penalty or the fine is by taking money from your refund. If you are not owed a refund, they cannot get money from you. They can't issue a lien. They can't garnish your wages. They can't use any of the normal procedures available to them if you owe them money, even though the Supreme Court has said it's a tax. So for those of us -- I mean, folks, I'm in fat city. I'm in fat city because I always structure to where I owe money. Well, not entirely. There have been years. But if you structure your taxes so that you do not get a refund, you do not have to buy insurance and you do not have to pay a fine 'cause they can't collect it from you if you don't have a refund due.

And that is just another nail in the coffin of Obamacare imploding on itself.

President Obama’s aides went to extraordinary lengths to uncover the identity of a senior official who was using Twitter to make snarky comments about White House staffers. Suspicion gradually centered on Jofi Joseph, the point man on nuclear nonproliferation at the National Security Council. So at a meeting in which everyone was in on the scam an inaccurate but innocuous news tidbit was revealed. When Joseph used his anonymous Twitter handle #natlsecwonk to broadcast the tidbit he was caught and promptly fired. He was not fired for revealing any secrets, but for making disparaging comments about thin-skinned administration players ranging from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.

What apparently intensified the campaign to identify the “snarker” was a comment about Valerie Jarrett, the senior Obama adviser who has her own Secret Service detail and appears to exercise an inordinate amount of power behind the scenes. Joseph tweeted “I’m a fan of Obama, but his continuing reliance and dependence upon a vacuous cipher like Valerie Jarrett concerns me.”

Jarrett, an old Chicago friend of both Barack and Michelle Obama, appears to exercise such extraordinary influence she is sometimes quietly referred to as “Rasputin” on Capitol Hill, a reference to the mystical monk who held sway over Russia’s Czar Nicholas as he increasingly lost touch with reality during World War I.

You didn’t want to be the guy chosen to tell Stalin that the wheat crop failed or the production quotas on trucks and cars were not met. Why?

Because despots always blame people, not systems.

In the same way, you don’t want to be the guy chosen to tell Obama that his health care websites are a disaster. But that’s what they are, and he’s managed to blame everyone but himself.

At his hilarious and embarrassing press conference on Monday, the president first assured us that “no one is madder than me” about website failures. Then, of course, he lashed out at the critics and implicitly blamed them for technical failures.“It’s time for folks to stop rooting for its failure, because hardworking, middle-class families are rooting for its success.”

Someone needs to explain to this guy that rooting one way or another does not cause a website to fail. Crop failures in Russia were not because of the enemies of communism, and the failure of Obama’s health care websites are not due to his political enemies, either. The problem is that government is a bad developer, even when it’s contracting out.

Then Obama said, “We did not wage this long and contentious battle just around a website. That’s not what this was about.”

The City of Salisbury Department of Public Works responded to a Sanitary Sewer Overflow on Center Drive in Salisbury near the Center at Salisbury. The overflow was contained in the storm water basin and did not make it to a waterway and threaten aquatic life or a water supply...

Publishers Notes: "This type of file can harm your computer" is the message I get every time I look at the City's Website. Obviously the Mayor and his administration don't want people to click on more. I for one will not.

Secondly, I was on the City's Website yesterday and this was NOT posted. How they can claim the press release came out on the 25th is beyond me.

With support from teachers' unions such as the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, liberals like Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) are opposing a bill that would help protect school children from the possibility of being exposed to criminals, including sex offenders, in America's schools.

The unions are also playing the race card in fighting the legislation:The bill has run into objections from major teachers' unions like the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. In letters to lawmakers, their criticisms included concerns that the measure might jeopardize workers' protections under union contracts.

In addition, the NEA wrote that criminal background checks "often have a huge, racially disparate impact" — a reference to critics' complaints that minorities make up a disproportionately high proportion of people convicted of crimes.